Yet another cold, rainy day here. We went on a brief trip to a famous Buddhist temple called the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees today so that the recently adopted babies in our group could receive a Buddhist blessing. This temple was much larger than the one we stumbled across yesterday and there were many tourists visiting the Temple. There was a large courtyard and Chinese garden surrounded by several buildings, various worship spaces, again lots of incense, peanuts and water left in offering to the Buddhas. There were also several dozen monks wearing traditional garb walking around the various buildings.
After a brief time exploring, we entered a worship space for a special blessing that is routinely given to newly adopted children here. All the adults were asked to take off their shoes and kneel with our hands in a prayer position facing the goddess of mercy. We were each holding our newly adopted children. Then, a monk joined us and chanted for a couple of minutes. Finally, he sprinkled water on everyone's head with what looked like a palm frond and we were done. I'm disappointed that I couldn't simultaneously take video and participate in the blessing. I did manage a couple of still photos, though.
Emily is still happiest when we let her run around and play in our hotel room, so we are doing lots of that today. A little dull for Mom and Dad, but it is so rewarding to watch her running all around with such a big smile on her face!
Tomorrow we are taking her to get her mandatory medical exam at the US Consulate. We miss Colin and Alex very much and we can't wait to introduce them to their new little sister in just a few more days.
No comments:
Post a Comment